Water Quality Program

The Forsyth County Office of Environmental Assistance and Protection administers a non-regulatory
Water Quality Program to protect the quality of surface water in Forsyth County.
We investigate non-emergency water contamination events that we discover or that
are reported by citizens. Many surface water quality problems are caused accidentally,
unwittingly or even naturally. We are usually able to resolve these problems quickly
and reduce the pollution impact during an initial on-site investigation. Cases where
enforcement action is necessary to correct a problem are referred to the N.C. Department
of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) under a Memorandum of Understanding.
In these cases, we transfer collected evidence to DENR for further investigation
and enforcement.

Reporting Surface Water Pollution Problems

Emergency Spills

Dial 911 if there is an imminent health or safety problem. They will contact the
proper authorities.

In the Town of Kernersville: report to the State of North Carolina’s Division of
Environment and Natural Resources at (336) 771-5000.

All other areas of the County: report to the Erosion Control Division at (336) 747-6962.

Pollution entering Streams or Storm Drains

In Winston-Salem: report to Winston-Salem’s Stormwater Division at (336) 747-7480

In Kernersville: report to the Kernersville Stormwater Hotline at (336) 564-1600

In Clemmons: report to the Clemmons Stormwater Hotline at (336) 712-4028

All areas of the County: report to the Forsyth County Office of Environmental Assistance and Protection
at (336) 703-2440

If you want to report a stream problem and don’t know who to call, call us for assistance
at (336) 703-2440.

In addition to investigating water pollution problems in streams, we are active
in issues facing regional planning and development and advocate a clean and healthy
stream system. Proactively targeting and addressing water quality issues makes good
sense and can help to avoid State or Federal mandated infrastructure changes that
could be costly to the County’s citizens.

Forsyth County's watershed system impacts both local and downstream communities
in three separate river basins; the Yadkin/Pee-Dee River basin, the Roanoke River
basin, and the Cape Fear River basin. Approximately 76% of Forsyth County is in
the Yadkin/Pee-Dee River basin. The Roanoke River basin occupies about 21% of the
northeastern section of the county. The Cape Fear basin impacts less than 3% of
the county on the eastern edge that includes a small part of Kernersville.